Cutting Energy Waste To Save Money

Tired of throwing money at oil companies and your local utility? You can fight back by eliminating the energy waste in your life. Consider the following:

1. If you have an attic, you undoubtedly are wasting money on your heating bill. Take a close look at the entrance to the attic. If it is a drop down from the ceiling, hot air is moving up and through it.

2. When considering the layout of solar panels on your home, it is vital that you consider how to maximize the exposure to the sun. This is known as “orienting” and involves placing the panels in such a position that they receive as much sun as possible.

3. Check the Pressure in Your Tires – Under-inflated tires can reduce gas mileage by 3 to 5 percent and wear out the tires. Make sure to maintain pressures at the top end of the suggested psi of the tire.

4. Programmable Thermostats Save Money – Heating your home can be expensive. Programmable thermostats let you save money by setting the times when heating should occur and when it should not such as when you are at work.

5. Cut Lighting Costs – The lights in your home are huge money wasters. Switch to CFL lights. They last up to 10 times longer and cost less to run.

6. Heating Two Story Homes – Heat moves up, so you can manipulate it with your multi-level home. Close all vents other than on the lowest floor. Heat will migrate up and you will spend less.

Geothermal Heat Pumps

7. The Electrical Grid – When it comes to renewable energy, you will quickly hear the term electrical grid. It refers the platform maintained by utilities across the country. With solar, you can feed energy into the grid when not using it.

8. Solar power not only saves you money, but helps stop global warming.

9. Window Energy Costs – Windows allow for the transfer of heat in a big way. Closing curtains or blinds over them at night can cut down on the rate of heat loss, saving you tons on your bill.

10. Changing Car Filters – Two energy wasters on your car are the fuel filter and air filter. Change them every 3,000 to 6,000 miles. Any oil change location can do it.

You should notice that the above tips do not really require you to make any drastic changes in your life. It is more a matter of eliminating the sloppy things to save some serious money.

Being Greener When You Rent

Renting can be frustrating when you want to go green. There are a lot of things you just don’t have control over. You generally don’t own the appliances, can’t install solar panels, etc. It gets annoying sometimes.

I deal with this a lot as I do still rent. We’re fortunate enough to be renting a house rather than an apartment, but there are still a lot of limitations.

Start By Saving Energy

Even when you can’t replace that cranky old refrigerator, you can still save energy. Start with the light bulbs. Switch out to compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs. In many areas you can find them at a discount through your local electric company. I’ve seen them under $2.50 for a 3-pack in my area due to discounts run through my power company. Take advantage.

There is one catch to CFLs if you have a lot of closed fixtures. The standard spiral bulbs don’t work as well in closed fixtures. According to energystar.gov, you are best off using a reflector CFL in these areas. Similarly, if you have dimmer switches, you will want to be sure that your bulbs will work with these.

Clearwater Geothermal Air Conditioning

Also try to find out about recycling these, as they have a small amount of mercury and should not be just thrown in the trash. In my area Kohl’s recycles them.

You should also think more about when you are using electricity. Power down the computer if you won’t be using it for a time. Unplug appliances that don’t need to be plugged in all the time. Unplug the cell phone charger and other chargers.

Power strips can also be a big help. Use them to shut off all power to multiple items at once. This takes care of the “phantom load” that many electrical items have where they use electricity even when off. Often this is to run a clock or other nonessential. If you don’t need it to have electricity 24/7, find a way to make shutting it off all the way easy.

Watch for Green Apartments

You may not be able to move into one right now, but in some areas green apartments are turning up. Just a few miles from where I live, there’s a new apartment complex that is powered by solar power. Believe me, I would have loved to get on that list, but by the time I heard of it, the list was full.

I expect green apartments to be a trend. It’s a good value for the landlords and very appealing to many renters.

Tampa Geothermal Installation

Encourage Green Habits

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is that you may not have access to many of the basic things homeowners take for granted. For example, recycling may or may not be available in some apartment communities, even if single family homes are required to recycle.

If your complex doesn’t recycle, talk to the rental agents about it. If they learn there is a demand for it, they’re more likely to sign up for recycle bins to be put out by the trash bins.

Being green in a rental situation is more difficult, but it is not impossible. These steps can help you to get onto the right path.